From the game's opening on-side kick, the Grand Haven Buccaneers refused to lose sight of the fact they held their playoff destiny in their own hands Friday night in their rematch against Rockford.

That thought could not have been any clearer late in the fourth quarter at Ted Carlson Memorial Stadium when Buccaneer running back Troy Rutherford scampered into the end zone from 8-yards out, a touchdown that cut Rockford's lead to one point.

Without any hesitation, Grand Haven coach Steve Horodyski decided to go for a two-point conversion.

"We came here to win, knowing we controlled our own destiny," Horodyski said.

But the Buccaneers failed to complete their pass to destiny, dropping an emotional 14-13 contest to the Rams.

At 5-4, Grand Haven now must play the waiting game until Sunday's official playoff pairings are announced. The Rams clinched an automatic playoff berth last week when they beat Grand Haven 28-14 on its home field.

After its failed conversion attempt, Grand Haven managed to get its hands back on the football at its own 41-yard line with 2:30 remaining in the game, marching down the Rams' 23-yard line before an illegal procedure and holding penalty moved them back to Rockford's 41 with 1:32 showing.

Two plays later, Rockford's Steve Iik intercepted a pass by Grand Haven quarterback Kyle Moteberg and the Rams were able to take a knee a couple of times and escape with the victory.

"We called a great two-point play, but sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you," said Horodyski, recalling the two-point pass that went incomplete. We still have chance to get in the playoffs, but there will have to be an upset somewhere."

The Buccaneers failed to convert the game's opening on-side kick recovery by Aaron Nash into points. Rockford then drove down the field, but an interception by Kyle Amrine at the Rams 1-yard line ended a 15-play drive that started at Rockford's 16-yard line.

Grand Haven put together an 11-play drive for the game's first touchdown, a 9-yard pass from Moteberg-to-Alex Kiel.

Rockford's ball-control offense attack responded on the ensuing possession 17-play, 65-yard touchdown march which ended with Kik scoring from 5-yards out. The Rams took a 14-7 lead at the 8:29 mark of the final quarter when receiver Josh Rauser hauled in a 10-yard pass from quarterback Spencer Klukowski.

"The two-point play was a gutsy call at the time because I thought there was still a lot of time of the clock," Rockford coach Ralph Munger said. "Momentum was on their side, though.

"We didn't change anything from our game against Grand Haven last week. We felt like we just had to execute better and we didn't. This game was as ugly as ugly can be for us.

The Rams suffered two turnovers (an interception and fumble), were called for a roughing the kicker penalty for the third week in a row and were stopped on downs once late in the fourth quarter that gave the ball back to Grand Haven and kept alive its hope of pulling off the upset.

Rockford's top rusher was Bradd VanderVeen, who finished with 45 yards on seven carries. Klukowski completed 10-of-15 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

Graham Gardner paced the Buccaneers' running game with 63 yards on 14 carries. Moteberg completed 11-of-22 passes for 141 yards.